PM won’t apologise after Starmer demo
BORIS Johnson held firm yesterday over demands that he apologise for his Jimmy Savile jibe at Sir Keir Starmer.
Downing Street insisted the Prime Minister would not be retracting his criticism from a Commons clash last week after the Labour leader was mobbed by antivaccine protesters.
Sir Keir was head of the Crown Prosecution Service in 2009 when a decision was taken not to prosecute Savile and later apologised for the failure to do so.
But, as Mr Johnson has since clarified, the Labour leader had no personal involvement in the case. Supporters of the Prime Minister argue they are entitled to hold Sir Keir to account for the failings of the organisation he ran.
They believe it is the same as Mr Johnson being held accountable for lockdown parties in Downing Street.
The Prime Minister’s official spokesman acknowledged the Prime Minister’s initial statement was ‘capable of being misconstrued’, and said that was why he subsequently issued a ‘clarification’.
The spokesman said: ‘The Prime Minister clarified his remarks last week to make clear he was not suggesting Keir Starmer was individually responsible for the Savile decision. I think the Prime Minister was making a political point about taking responsibility for organisations as a whole.’
Sir Keir was bundled into a police car for protection near Parliament on Monday as some protesters accused him of ‘protecting paedophiles’.
The Prime Minister tweeted on Monday evening that the ‘behaviour directed’ at the Labour leader was ‘absolutely disgraceful’.
Technology minister Chris
Philp yesterday insisted that Mr Johnson could not be held responsible for the ‘unacceptable’ actions of the demonstrators.
He pointed out that some of those taking part had already been involved in similar incidents targeting Communities Secretary Michael Gove and the BBC journalist Nick Watt.
Mr Philp told Sky News: ‘They did mention Jimmy Savile. They also mentioned Julian Assange repeatedly, they mentioned Covid, they also mentioned the opposition more generally. I don’t think you can point to what the Prime Minister said as the cause of that.
‘You certainly can’t blame him for the fact that that mob were clearly behaving in a totally unacceptable way.’
Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle said: ‘I made it clear last week that while the Prime Minister’s words were not disorderly they were inappropriate.
‘These sorts of comments only inflame opinions and generate disregard for the House and it is not acceptable.
‘Our words have consequences and we should always be mindful of the fact.’